it does take speculative skill to choose players who will do well statistically and use the figures as a means of competition against other fantasy teams

as for me, i consider myself a basketball purist in that i enjoy the game in and of itself with the real teams. i sometimes (half-jokingly) say to people that i would rather see the two worst teams in the nba than watch the superbowl/world series game.

as a purist:

i like it when a bench player unexpectedly has a great game; i like how coaches try to counter one another with different offensive and defensive substitutions; i like how a team helps out on defense; i like the hard clean fouls; and the umpteen different things that happen during an nba game; i like the emotional ebbs and flows of the game from the players and the crowd; i like the feeling of the win and the reality of defeat (even if i dont like it when the sonics lose!)

i dont like selfish players who are more concerned about their own stats to the detriment of the team; i dont like refs who think they are bigger than the game and whose egos can negatively affect the calls; i dont like players who do not hustle

perhaps you nba-fantasy-players can comment:
**does your pull for the fantasy league at times affect your enjoyment of the nba games themselves?
**in other words, would you rather see the individual players on your fantasy team do well while the team loses?
**what happens when it is your favorite team, what wins out-- the team good or the individual success in the stats?

perhaps you purists can comment:
**what do you like about the real nba game in and of itself that perhaps gets lost in "fantasy leagues?"

The game comes first. Everything else is secondary. I enjoy fantasy hoops because of the competition and the camaraderie. I mean, if your a hoops junkie and like fantasy sports, it's natural to want to play. My team and the real league is what's important. If my fantasy team is doing well, that's just gravy.

The game comes first. Everything else is secondary. I enjoy fantasy hoops because of the competition and the camaraderie. I mean, if your a hoops junkie and like fantasy sports, it's natural to want to play. My team and the real league is what's important. If my fantasy team is doing well, that's just gravy.

The game comes first. Everything else is secondary. I enjoy fantasy hoops because of the competition and the camaraderie. I mean, if your a hoops junkie and like fantasy sports, it's natural to want to play. My team and the real league is what's important. If my fantasy team is doing well, that's just gravy.

Fantasy sports are what turned me into a true hoops junkie. I always enjoyed watching basketball, but never gave a rats ass about bench players, until I was counting on those guys to get me an extra 3 rebounds, or 4 assists.

What was the question again? Oh yeah..

I don't care all that much about whether my fantasy team wins or loses anymore. If I'm watching a game and somebody from my team is playing, I guess I'll silently cheer for them, but really, I don't care that much. It's just something extra to do for 5 minutes in the morning (setting rosters, etc).

The game of basketball itself is always more important to me. You can't replace those real life situations/problems/occurances/victories/etc.

I really enjoy fantasy basketball though. It's something of its own. Allows me to keep track of players and teams I normally would not keep track of... And I like running a team as well. Drafting what I hope will be the best team, statistically. Making trades, working with waiver wire, etc...It puts a different spin on basketball I normally don't see. Find out about breaking-out-players sooner/more than the average NBA fan might. Understanding statistics a little better.

I enjoy analysis as well (particularly when it involves something else I enjoy, like basketball). It takes a degree of difficulty to run a successfull fantasy team, anybody will tell you. It also takes some discipline to be able to seperate yourself from your favorite players/team (for me, the Spurs) when it comes to fantasy bball, and on the flipside, you kind of have to hold back from selfishly rooting for your fantasy players against your team in real life... For some, this is much easier than others. I have no problem passing on Duncan in a fantasy league, etc.

I really think fantasy bball shouldn't be taken as any kind of threat toward basketball "purists". Fantasy doesn't incourage "selfish basketball" in any way, at least imo. I don't think players are out there thinking, "hey, my fantasy bball team could use more steals, I better step it up".

Also, I think it's worth noting that fantasy basketball/football/baseball/etc, is nothing new. I'm sure there are many basketball "purists" out there who are just as much into fantasy basketball. There's one dude in his late 30's in one of my leagues on another site, who said he's been doing fantasy bball for about ten years.

Obviously, with the internet, it's become a much easier and accessible thing.

the fantasy game is totally separate for me. it's just a competition. i'm trying to out-think my opponent each week, but i don't really watch each game hoping for my picks to pull through big numbers. it gives you two ways to enjoy the season. how are you're teams doing in reality, and how are you doing making picks. i would never pick up chauncy billups and pull for him to get huge numbers against the bulls (i'm an old time pistons hater / bulls fan; can't shake it), but at the end of the week i'd hope that billups stats met or surpassed my expectations when i chose him. will you get psyched if you see a boxscore and one of your fantasy guys went off? sure. but not nearly as psyched as you are watching your favorite team pulling off a big win. i think fantasy football tends to be a little more hardcore and little more "real" to people because there are so few weeks and more hinges on each player's performance. speaking of which i just saw the stupidest gatoraid commercial of all time. manning is "berthed" from a giant black umbilacle sack inside a football. what happened to taking game clips and playing them against a song?

The game comes first. Everything else is secondary. I enjoy fantasy hoops because of the competition and the camaraderie. I mean, if your a hoops junkie and like fantasy sports, it's natural to want to play. My team and the real league is what's important. If my fantasy team is doing well, that's just gravy.

The game of basketball itself is always more important to me. You can't replace those real life situations/problems/occurances/victories/etc.

I really think fantasy bball shouldn't be taken as any kind of threat toward basketball "purists". Fantasy doesn't incourage "selfish basketball" in any way, at least imo. I don't think players are out there thinking, "hey, my fantasy bball team could use more steals, I better step it up".